Instagram’s Viral Weight Loss Teas Are Just Laxatives

Our team at Foxy Asia Magazine spends hours a day scrolling through endless feeds on Instagram to spot any growing trends or interesting news stories. These days, you can’t help but notice a growing number of Instagram celebrities promoting herbal “detoxing” teas (teatox) that are supposed to help you lose weight naturally.

Do the teas help you lose weight?

According to Chavie Lieber’s investigation at Racked, many of these teas’ “weight-loss” properties can be attributed to senna – more commonly known as the active ingredient in the widely used laxative, Ex-Lax. Although Medline Plus Supplements regards senna as an effective herbal supplement for constipation, there’s no evidence to recommend it for weight loss. Some teatox companies are up-front about the teas’ effects, while others hide behind vague feel-good language, Lieber reports.

Dolla dolla bills y’all.

Obviously, the celebrities endorsing teatox products didn’t get shapely curves and rock-solid abs by drinking tea alone. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to a hot bod. The truth is, tea companies will pay popular Instagrammers between $3,000 to $250,000 per post to promote their products according to Lieber. And let’s face it, most of us can only dream about getting paid that much to poop.